Sophie Stone
Sophie Stone (b. March 26, 1977) was born Sophia Pepper Stone. She was an American child actress in the 1980's and early 1990's. In the first 1988 USA tour of Les Misérables, Sophie played the character of Little Cosette. She shared her role with fellow young actress Lauren Brzozowski. Sophie, who at the time was eleven years old, was the elder of the two actresses, though this was not her first role nor would it be her last. Sophie made her theatre debut at the early age of six as a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz, and took her last role at age fifteen before retiring from the acting world. The image to the right features Sophie as she appeared when with the cast of Les Miserables. Early Life Sophie Stone was born Sophia Pepper Stone on March 26, 1977 in Lewes, Delaware to Wilma (nee O'Reilly) and Russell Stone. She was the youngest of two children, her older brother being Wayne Stone (b. September 1975). She was raised in Lewes, attending a small religious girl's public school, while her brother studied at a small religion-based school for boys, both her parents being devout Protestants. Her mother Wilma worked as a secretary in a dentist's clinic and her father worked, curiously, as a phone operator for a larger acting agency in New York. After seeing the local church adaptation of Noah's Arc at age five, however, Sophie began to express a keen interest in acting. Her parents signed her up for the church choir and children's theatre programme. Sophie's talent both as a singer and actress was noticed early on by the lead choreographer of the church group, who consulted her parents and suggested they contact a professional children's theatre agency. Her talent took her to take a small role as part of the Munchkin chorus in a local production of The Wizard of Oz. Sophie would later say of the experience, "I remember it was kind of scary, at first, because I was the youngest kid in the cast. Most of the other children were at least eight, and there was me at barely six. But everybody was so nice and I got used to it really quickly. And I had a great time at the first performance; I'd never done anything like it before. Even though it was just a little local production; Lewes isn't that big a town compared to other parts of the country. But honest, as soon as I stepped out onstage with the other Munchkins, I think it was one of the happiest times in my life, because it was my first time acting professionally." Sophie went on to take on progressively larger theatre roles with the local musical theatre troupe she had joined. The troupe mostly did well-known musicals like The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. In both of these productions however Sophie took on some of the largest roles available to the child actors, and by the time she was nine she even joined in a production outside Lewes. This would be in the show Annie Get Your Gun, which came to be her breakthrough role in a way, as it was this show that first got her noticed. She would go on to be in another show outside of Lewes before trying out for Les Misérables, and becoming one of the two actresses to take on the role of Little Cosette. After Les Mis, Sophie began to drift out of the acting world as her interest in formal choir was piqued, and she ended up joining a professional choir. Today Today Sophie lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she works at a music shop and dabbles in professional and local choir. She lives with her husband James and their Boston terrier Tad. List of Credits * 1983 - The Wizard of Oz - Munchkin * 1984 - Oliver! ''- Workhouse Child * 1985 - ''The Sound of Music - ''Gretl VonTrapp * 1986 - ''Mary Poppins - Jane Banks * 1986 - Annie Get Your Gun ''- Jessie * 1988 - ''Les Miserables - Little Cosette * 1990 - Oklahoma! - Chorus * 1992 - The Sound of Music - Louisa VonTrapp Category:Les Misérables Category:Actors from Les Misérables Category:Actresses in Les Misérables Category:People involved in Les Misérables Category:Cosette